Block 18 (Exploratory). Cycle 3. Session C.

sRPE @7.5

BW - 217

Squats - 285X8, 8, 8 @~8

Dips -

BW+55X4 @7

BWX12 @9

EZ OH Extensions - 60X12 @10

Low Pin Press - 125X3, 3, 3, 3 @~8

Gaspari Bar Curls - 57.5X12, 11 @8/10

285 for 3X8 is a Volume PR on Squats.  Taking things very slow and deliberate building up squat volumes at this effort level.  Very deliberate technique, and plenty of rest times between sets with rests getting longer set-to-set.  Definitely getting a low back pump about half way through, and dealing with some low back discomfort the next day, but it's not "out."  Adding a final, fourth set next week, and will continue to be very conservative until I'm confident the volume at this effort is being tolerated.

Tried 3X8 @6 for Squats over the summer and did not get great results in that block.  Next block will likely be lower volume/effort but higher absolute intensity, and the block after that will be more similar to this plus a top-single.  So in this exploratory block, I wanted to, as always, reach for some low hanging volume PRs (which I'm already getting here), but also start to remind myself of what it's like to do multiple, higher-rep sets @8.  

Backed off weight on Dips top set and everything felt a little bit better.  BW reps felt "athletic."

Pin Pressing continues to be really hard, but also really fun.  Also seem to feel recovered relatively quickly for such high effort work.

3rd set of Squats:

Block 12. Cycle 3. Session B.

BW - 233

Waist - 43.75"

BB Curls - 67.5X13, 13 @8/8.5

DB Curls - 33.75sX12, 12 @8/8.5

Bench - 

222.5X1 @8

187.5X4, 4, 4,4 @~6

Deadlift - 

407.5X1 X8

347.5X4, 4, 4, 4 @6

DB Press - 42.5sX10, 10 @8

67.5X13 on BB Curls is a Rep PR that projects to a new PR max.  It's also a 2X13 Volume PR.

407.5X1 is a lifetime PR on Deadlift.  187.5 for 2X4 would have been a Volume PR, and I got 4 sets @6.

42.5s were a little heavy last week on DB Press, so I repeated the this week and they were right on RPE target.  

Block 10B. Cycle 3. Session A.

BW - 229

Waist - 43.5"

sRPE @ 8

Squat -
377.5X2 @ 9
320X6, 6, 6 @~8

WG Deadlift - 285X9, 9, 9 @8

Leg Press -
495X7 @7
520X7 @8

Everything went pretty well.  I keep forgetting the WG Deadlift is supposed to be @7 this block.

Block 10B. Cycle 1. Session C.

BW- 227

Waist - 43.25"

sRPE @ 7

Deadlift -
370X1 @ 9
305X7, 7 @~7

Pause Squat -
260X5 @ 6.5
280X5 @ 8

Dips -
BW+15X9 @ 8
BWX10 @ 8.5

Block 10B. Cycle 1. Session A.

BW - 226

Waist - 43.25

sRPE @ 8

Squat -
377.5X2 @10
310X6 @ 8.5
300X6 @ 8

WG Deadlift - 270X9, 9 @~7

Leg Press - 5.5ppsX7 @ 8

Weird session.

I felt a little out-of-it walking into the gym, but tried to rally for Squats.

Warm-ups went OK, but not great.  I backed off of my target top set weight, but it was still harder than I wanted (targeting RPE 9).  Then the first back-off was slightly heavier than I wanted it to be, but I could tell than the next set was going to be even harder, so I backed the weight off again, and hit the RPE target.  At this point, I remembered how I'd dropped a set per movement from the first week of Block 10A, and decided to do that again today to make sure I could get through it.

Then Wide Grip DL and Leg Press were all right on target.  Dunno.

Block 10. Cycle 4. Session B.

BW - 229

Waist - 43.5"

sRPE @ 7

Bench -
207.5X3 @8
180X7, 7 @7, 8
162.5X7 @7

CG Bench - 155X6, 6, 6, 6 @7

Rack Pull-Ups - BWX8, 8, 8 @8.5/9.5

Well that sucked.

Top strength on Bench was completely flat for the 2nd week in a row, but this time back-off set strength nose-dived after the first set. 

I then backed way off to see how Close Grips were going to go, and the back-off weight ended up being the work weight.

Sleep hasn't been great this week, so maybe there's a recovery issue.  Looking back at the last year+ of training with Emerging Strategies, I've never had two lifts plateau in week 4.  This is really throwing a wrench into the experiment of doing back-to-back, 4-5 week "greatest hits" blocks.  When I started this experiment, I told myself I would switch to Phase 2 if two lifts plateaued or regressed in Week 4, but I didn't really expect it to happen.  On the other hand, it might be fun to have different stuff to do next week....

Block 10. Cycle 3. Session C.

BW - 228

Waist - 43.25"

sRPE @ 7

Deadlift -
370X3 @8
335X6, 6, 6 @~8

GHR - BWX17, 16 @~7.5

220 Tempo Incline Bench - 130X5, 5, 5 @7

Nice session.  Decent increase on all lifts.

Good jump on DL, especially on the back-off sets.  I was working in with someone that had a 100 and a 45 loaded on each side, so I just did that and it ended up being solid despite adding a set.

Speaking of adding a set, I stopped the second set of GHR at 16 because I just spaced that I was supposed to be doing 17.

Tempo incline was interesting.  I felt like I started picking up a lot more kinetic feedback in this session sort of "guiding me" in how to keep my elbows under the bar.  It made all the reps and sets a lot smoother and easier to execute than the first two cycles when strength seemed to be dipping quickly throughout a set.

Block 10. Cycle 3. Session A.

BW - 228

Waist - 43.25"

sRPE @ 8

Squat -
340X3 @7
290X7, 7, 7 @~7

Front Squat - 155X9, 9, 9, 9 @~7

Sumo w/ Straps - 315X5, 5, 5 @~8

GPP Day -
- DB Circuit: One-Arm Rows, Upright Rows, Curls - 7 minutes; 3 rounds; sets of 10
- Rower - HIIT; 6 rounds; 12 minutes

Good session.

sRPE had been sub-target for two sessions in a row, and RTS' TRAC system also indicated an increase in volume, so I took their suggestion and added 1 set per movement.  This is the volume I'd originally envisioned for the program, but gave it a couple of weeks for fitness/DOMS to get inverse.  sRPE ended up being over target on this day, but this is the hardest session of the cycle, and is the only one that has rest days before it.  That's all to say that increasing the volume felt good, though hard, on this day, and that I'll keep an eye on it, but expect it should be fine.

Surprisingly, e1RM for squat on this day is the 2nd highest of the past year.  That result seems unlikely, but we'll see how it plays out.  The absolute intensity is still well off from my highest of the past year which was, I believe, 380X2@9.

Block 10. Cycle 2. Session C.

BW - 230

Waist - 44"

sRPE @ 6

Deadlift -
365X3 @~8
325X6, 6 @8

GHR - BWX16 @7

220 Incline Bench -
127.5X5 @6.5
130X5 @7

Solid full-body session.

I was pretty sure DL was going to bounce-back strong from last week's DOMS-laden session, and that was accurate.  Had trouble pulling 330X3 last week, but 365X3 was right there for me today on target.

GHR and Tempo Incline all felt good.

sRPE has been sub-target for 2 session in a row, which was going to be my trigger to add a set to everything.  Not coincidentally, RPS TRAC system also recommends that as of today based on my perceived fatigue metrics.

Block 10. Cycle 2. Session B.

BW - 227

Waist - 43.75"

sRPE @ 6

Bench -
205X3 @7.5
175X7, 7 @~7

CG Bench - 167.5X6, 6, 6 @7

Rack Pull-Ups - BWX6, 6, 6 @7.5/9

GPP Day -
- Circuit: Straight-Arm Pull-Downs, DB Press, Hammer Curls - 7 minutes; 3 rounds; sets of 10
- Rower - HIIT; 6 rounds; 12 minutes

Solid upper-body session.  sRPE was sub-target for the 2nd week in a row, so if I'm feeling well fatigue-wise next week, I'll be adding a set to each movement.

Bench took a 2% jump in e1RM this week, which is above average for the last year.  In my best training 4 training blocks over the last year, bench jumped about 3% in week 2 on average, but the TM on the first week for those bench blocks was 92.7% on average (below the mean for the year), and this block started at 98.9% (the highest of the year).  So year-best TM and an above average jump in week 2, are a combo that I haven't seen on bench in the last year, and an auspicious start to the block.

Last week, RPE on Close-Grips ramped quickly on the sets across, but this week I was able to both add weight, and maintain it at target RPE.  Nice to have that on track in week 2 as well.

Added a rep to all the Rack Pull-Ups but BW was down, so whatevs.  I'm not going to stress over these, even if the data says they were one of my top-6 DL accessories in the last year.  They'll progress or they won't.

GPP Day went very well.  Got another 3 round in 7 minutes on the resistance circuit.  I added weight to all movements, and still hit 10 reps on all sets.  Thought I would add 2 rounds to the HIIT, but only adding 1 felt right in the moment.

Didn't get video of my top set of bench.

Block 10. Cycle 2. Session A.

BW - 230

Waist - 43.75"

sRPE @ 7

Squat -
332.5X3 @8
292.5X7 @7.25
287.5X7 @7

Front Squat - 150X7, 7, 7 @7

Sumo w/ Straps - 300X5, 5 @~8

GPP Day -
- DB Circuit: One-Arm Rows, Upright Rows, Curls - 7 minutes; 3 rounds; sets of 8-10
- Rower - HIIT; 5 rounds; 10 minutes

Solid little session.

Went in expecting to get a lot more on LBS and Sumo than the previous session, and that turned out to be true.  Just the way I felt on the previous session, and some experience of how this tends to go over the last year played into that expectation.  Still, I used RPE on warm-ups to calibrate what the top set would actually be.  I tend to go in with the assumption of a larger than average jump, but a 4% jump is WELL above average for me cycle-to-cycle.

First set of back-offs on the Squat were a touch harder than target, and so dropped back on the 2nd set.  I expect to be adding a set to each movement over the next couple of weeks, so don't see any reason to push intensity on those now.

Front Squats ended up not progressing as quickly.  Maybe just fatigue still from the low bar sets.

Sumo was a bit weird.  This is actually the same e1RM as last week, but the RPE dropped slightly on the 2nd set.  I think it's technical acclimation coming into play.  Likely see a big jump next week if I had to put money on it.

On GPP Day, I still got a third round of the circuit.  Switched over to HIIT from LISS on the rower.  Last week was just an intro for that.  Cut the total conditioning time in half, and will look to add a round or two every session until I'm up in the 7-10 range.  Then maybe switch movements?

Block 9. Cycle 2. Session B.

BW - 227

Waist - 43.25"

sRPE @ 7

Squats -
320X3 @7
265X16 @8

High-Bar Squats - 265X7 @8

Hip-Thrusts (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) - 135X17, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 @9/7

Solid, bounce-back session.

Messed up the top set of Squats and stopped one set early.  Should have been going for ~335 @8 here.  Then I lost count on the back-off set and ended up doing an extra rep, and STILL hitting under target RPE @9.  We'll try to dial that in next week.  Eventually, it will be have to be heavy enough, right?

265X7 is a Rep PR on High Bar Squats.  I dropped weight and hit a quick triple on high-bars to make sure technique was dialed-in, before jumping back up to the work weight.  Worked well.

Hip-thrusts were interesting this week.  Pushed the RPE on the top set pretty good, but all the myo-reps sets were too easy.  Probably want to up those to 6 reps each for next time.

Block 9. Cycle 2. Session A.

BW - 232.9

Waist - 43.5"

sRPE @ 8

Chin-Ups - BW+17.5X4, 2 @~10

Press -
152.5X1 @9.75
137.5X3 @9.5
127.5X3 @8.25

Dips - BW+10X10, 10 @8,9

WG Pull-Downs (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) - 85X18, 5, 6, 6, 6, 6 @8/9

Weak session.

Chin-Ups and Press just weren't quite there for me on this day.

With Chins, my BW spiked on this day, and that really does seem to make a huge difference even accounting for total weight.

But when Press also took a step back, I thought maybe it was just an off day.  I still tried to push for my target weights, but both the top single and the first set of 3 were clearly to heavy on this day and so I backed off for the second set of 3.

Dips were slightly better, but the RPE shouldn't have jumped so much on the second set.

Pull-downs were fine though, lol.

Block 9. Cycle 1. Session D.

BW - 227

Waist - 43"

sRPE @ 7

Deadlift -
370X3 @8
275X15 @8

RDL w/Straps - 275X7 @8

Hack Squats (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) - 75X15, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 @8.7/7

Conditioning (following day) - Rower; HIIT (20/100 sec.); 5 rounds

Interesting session.

DL went really well.  Like all the powerlifts in this first week, the target weight for 15@9 ended up being too light, and just like all the others, I didn't give a shit and will just try to get @9 next week.

275X7 is a Rep PR on RDL.  With straps, but I kind of don't care, because I'll probably train this lift with straps from now on.  The movement just feels more focused with double-overhand.

I was worried about the Hack Squats, because single-leg Hack Squats in the pivot block were such a shit show.  Ended up just fine.  These were all fairly deep as well.

Got access to the gym in my office building and am starting to do conditioning on off-days.

Block 9. Cycle 1. Session C.

BW - 230

Waist - 43.75"

sRPE @ 7

Bench -
220X3 @8.25
155X15 @ 8.5

Chin-Ups 1.5s (bottom-half) - BWX3,3; 3,3; 3,3 @9/10

Upright Rows - (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) - 90X10, 3, 3, 3, 3, 3 @8.5

BB Curls -
65X12 @9
60X12 @9
50X12 @8

Okay session.

I hoped to push Bench to 225 for the top 3@8, but warm-up made that seem unlikely, and it turned out coming in roughly on target at 220.  Back-off set came in a little under target RPE @9, but I expect that on the first week or so as I dial-in the target weights.

Based on something Greg Nuckols said on a recent podcast, I thought I'd try a version of 1.5s on Chins.  With this version, I get within a rep or 2 of failure on the full reps, and then I do half-reps in the bottom ROM to within a rep or 2 of failure.  Not sure how to put my performance on these in context.  Last block, I started un-weighted chins by getting 10 total reps across 3 sets.  Here, I got 9 total, full ROM reps across 3 sets, plus nine, half-ROM reps.  So...that's more?  I will say, I felt a little "fresher" after these sets than I think I do after sets of full reps.  We'll see!

Haven't done upright rows in a while.  Thought I would be starting out with more weight for more reps, but whatevs.  My traps were really sore a couple days after doing these.

Curls were also a bit weaker than I expected.

Block 9. Cycle 1. Session B.

BW - 229

Waist - 43.25"

sRPE @ 7

Squat - 

330X3 @7.75

250X15 @8

High Bar Squat - 250X7 @8

Hip Thrusts (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) - 135X15, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 @ 8/7.5

Solid session.

Top triple on Squats moved really well.  Weight came in above target, and probably could have gone up 2-5 lbs., but these top sets are really final warm-ups in this block.  

Targeting @9 for the sets of 15 this block, and I know it's going to take some calibration to get there.  This weight was still above target, but definitely well below @9.  On the first week, I didn't want to add in another set for a couple of reasons: 1)  want to avoid adductor and quad DOMS as these have caused me problems at the beginning of past blocks, 2) at reps this high, I could see myself adding weight and suddenly finding myself @ 10+ in the first week.

Plan for High Bars was to shoot for 7@8 with the final weight from low bar.  Hoping to be able to go straight into it, and avoid taking off weight and doing a "warm up" set.  Tried that today, and it was a bit awkward having not done high bar in a few blocks, but I'm hopeful I'll get back in the groove.

Hip thrusts went well in my first real session using them.  May need to up reps on the myo-rep sets, as RPE was a little low throughout.

Block 9. Cycle 1. Session A.

BW - 227

Waist - 43.5"

sRPE @7

Chin-Ups - BW+17.5X4, 3 @~10

Press -
150X1 @9
135X3, 3 @~8

Dips -
BW+25X10 @9.5
BW+5X10 @8

WG Pull-Downs (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) - 85X16, 6, 6, 6, 6, 6 @8/9

Decent session to start the new training block.

I shifted things around to start off with the movements that struggled the most last block.

Chin-ups were about as expected.

Press ended up being a bit stronger out of the gate than expected.

I thought the opening weight on Dips might be a bit ambitious and I was right.  Will back-off a touch next week.

Using extra-Wide Grip bar on pull-downs to see if I can get a little more focus on all the little muscles that struggle at the top of a chin-up.  Theoretical, and probably a bad idea.

Block 8. Cycle 8. Session D.

BW - 227

Waist - 43.25"

sRPE @ 7

Chin-Ups -
BW+30X4, 3, 3 @~10
BWX6 @9.5

Rack Chins (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) - BWX8, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, @~9

Dips -
BW+35X8 @9.5
BWX12 @9.5

Rope Pushdowns - 90X13@9

BB Curls -
80X8, 8 @8.5, 9.75
60X18 @9.5

Some ups and down on the last session of this training block.

257(BW+30)X4 ties a lifetime Rep PR on Chins.  They didn't feel strong, but tying a Rep PR isn't nothing.  Maybe poised to jump to some all-time PRs next block.  That would be nice.

Rack Chins did feel strong.  Even though I got less reps on the first set, I got more total overall reps, and sometimes you've got to be happy with that.

Dips definitely took a step back.  Weighted sets were much harder this week with only ~4 more lbs., and BW back-off sets were much harder.  HOWEVER, 262(BW+35)X8 is a lifetime Rep PR.

80X8 on Barbell curls is a lifetime Rep PR.  These made nice, very  linear progress here.  Probably because I haven't had them in a regular development block in a long time.

All-in-all this block demonstrated to me the power of being able to put together a consistent run of training.  Almost a year into using the Emerging Strategies framework (I may do a fuller write up of this to help organize my own thoughts), and I can see that a full ~7 "week" training block usually  nets around 5-6% increases.  Training Max is around 96%, and usually increases around 12% by the end of a full block.  The big challenge is stringing those together around life interruptions. 

Block 8. Cycle 8. Session C.

BW - 228

Waist - 43"

sRPE @ 7

Deadlift -
405X2 @8.75
315X12 @7.75

GHR (Myo-Reps; 30 sec. rests) - BWX16, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 @8/7

Nice session.

Lots of PR stuff on DL.  405X2 and 315X12 are both lifetime rep PRs, and while both project lifetime e1RM PRs, that sub-maximal 405X2 really feels like one.

Similar to the other PL movement sessions this week, I dropped the second set of 12.

GHRs were fine.

Block 8. Cycle 8. Session B.

BW - 229

Waist - 43.25"

sRPE @ 7

Press -
147.5X1, 1 @8.5, 9.25
130X5 @8

Bench -
245X1 @8
180X12 @8.5

Chin-Ups - BWX6, 5, 4 @~10

Pull-Downs -
122.5X9 @9.5
100X10 @9.5

Funny session.

Press definitely didn't feel any stronger, but also didn't seem to backslide. 

Bench high reps felt terrible on the warm-ups, but then the singles just seemed to lock in somehow, and I had a big, 10 lb. jump over last week, even with self lift-off.  Hit the first back-off set, but it felt like it wasn't there (forgot to get video), so I skipped the second set, similar to Squats the day before, since this is the last week of this block.  Just didn't feel like backing off more in the last week.

Likewise, chin-ups and pull-downs were all comparable to last week.  Plateaued at the end of the block. 

Still weird about those Bench singles, though.